Sailing students spend 40 hours in life boats after ship sinks

Dozens of sailing students were forced to spend over 40 hours in life rafts being battered by huge seas, after their training ship sank off the coast of Brazil last Wednesday.

The three-masted SV Concordia was part way through a five month voyage around the world when a sudden, vertical blast of wind knocked the 188-foot-long ship on its side, forcing the 48 students and 16 training staff to scramble for the life boats before it sank.

All 64 people aboard were rescued by Brazilian navy early on Friday. After docking at Rio de Janeiro, the exhausted survivors described their ordeal which had left many wondering if they would die before rescue arrived.

The ship's captain William Curry said the Concordia's crew had prepared a day beforehand for what they anticipated would be rough but not unusual weather. He was below deck when the ship suddenly keeled, which was not unusual. But when it immediately keeled a second time Mr Curry said he knew instantly the vessel was in great danger.

Mr Curry blamed the wreck on a 'microburst,' a sudden, vertical downdraft of wind. When the boat keeled, the entire surface area of the sails was exposed to the powerful wind, and within 15 seconds, the boat went from sailing normally, upright, to lying on its side and beginning to sink. Thirty minutes later it was completely underwater, Mr Curry said.

"The ship had gone from sailing upright to being on her side in the water in about 15 or 20 seconds," Mr Curry said. "I knew, of course, that the blow to the ship was fatal and that she was not going to right."

Lauren Unsworth, a 16-year-old Dutch-Canadian who lives in Amsterdam, said; "The boat started keeling a lot. It came back up, keeled again, was basically lying on its side and all the windows began to break. That's when we knew it was time to flee."

Although the Concordia's radio equipment was underwater and unusable, making it imposible for the crew to call for help, the boat's emergency beacon was automatically released into the water.

However the crew spent more than a day adrift in the Atlantic before spotting the first signs of rescuers.

"We had been in the life raft for about 30 hours when we saw a search plane for the first time," Ms Unsworth said. "That's when we knew we were not alone and that help was on the way."

Keaton Farwell, 17, of Toronto, said students panicked as they grew increasingly concerned their signal had not been heard.

"My biggest fear was that nobody knew we had sunk," said Mr Farwell. "We thought our signal had failed and nobody knew and it could be weeks before we were saved. The worst life-and-death thoughts were going through our heads, and everybody was panicking."

After 30 hours in life rafts 300 miles (480 km) off Brazil, a Brazilian air force jet spotted the rafts. The navy said the distress signal was picked up about 5 pm. on Thursday, and an air force plane later spotted life rafts in the ocean.

"When we saw the plane, we were crying because of happiness. We knew somebody was coming for us, we knew we weren't going to die in a life raft," Mr Farwell said.

Forty-two of the students on board were from Canada, while others came from the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Europe and the West Indies, said Kate Knight, head of West Island College International of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, which operates the Class Afloat program. The course allows students in their last year of school and first year of university to study while learning how to sail.

Mr Curry said the Concordia's crew had begun preparing 24 hours in advance after getting a forecast of rough weather and high seas, but had not expected anything out of the ordinary.

"Those conditions are not at all extreme. It's kind of just another day at sea," he said. "It was an extraordinary event — just bad luck to be in that tiny patch of ocean at that time."

It was sheer luck that noone had been seriously hurt when the boat went over, he said. This was partly due to timing - the storm hit in the early afternoon at a time when most of the students were studying in protected structures on deck, which made it easier for them to scramble to life rafts.

Two rafts got tangled in the rigging but the ship's cook, who was still clutching a kitchen knife as she rushed up on deck, used it to slice through the ropes and free the rafts.

Mr Curry also said the school that operates the ship outfitted it with twice as many life rafts as needed for 64 people, so there was plenty of room for everyone even though all the rafts on one side were under water.

However questions remain over why it tok so long for the signal from the emergency beacon to be heard. Nigel McCarthy, president and CEO of the school, said a London-based maritime agency would conduct an investigation to determine the reason.

"I'm concerned," Mr McCarthy said. "Obviously we don't know the reality of what's happened at every stage of this process, and we're just thankful to the Brazilian navy for having gone and got them."

Edgardo Ybranez, captain of the Philippine flagged Hokuetsu Delight cargo ship which rescued 44 people, said everyone from the Concordia was unhurt except for the doctor, who suffered an injury before the rescue.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a statement thanking the Brazilian navy and the merchant ships for their 'swift and heroic response."

The ship had visited Europe and Africa since leaving Canada in September. It had been scheduled to dock on Tuesday in Montevideo, Uruguay, then visit several islands in the Atlantic as well as southern Africa and the Caribbean before returning to Canada.

West Island College International's Web site says Concordia was built in 1992 and "meets all of the international requirements for safety." It carries up to 66 passengers and crew and also can operate under motor power.